CHCQM601A Manage an Accreditation System

1. CHCQM601A Manage an Accreditation System Week 1 History and Overview Julie Carmel (c) bestchance Training 2009

2. History • As part of his 1986-87 budget speech the then Prime Minister Robert (Bob) Hawke stated that by 1990- “No Australian Child will live in Poverty… as part of this my government is committed to the introduction into Australia’s Child Care industry an accreditation system that has at its heart the improvement and introduction of standards of all Child care centres across this great land.” (c) bestchance Training 2009

3. History cont • In 1990 as a lead up to the Federal election Prime Minister Hawke, again to up the issue of Child Care accreditation. • He stated; “parents are entitled to be confident they are getting quality attention for their kids whether they are using Government or commercial centres. So we will work with all key interests in child care to develop a system of accreditation” (c) bestchance Training 2009

4. History cont • From this the Quality Improvement and Accreditation System was developed and introduced in1993. the impetus for the development of the QIAS is explained in the following adaptation from the QIAS Handbook (1st edition, 1993). (c) bestchance Training 2009

5. “A recognition of the importance of quality child care has been developing in Australia for more than a decade. Where once viewed as a worthwhile way to amuse children for a few hours per week while introducing them to the routines they would encounter at school, the importance of quality child care for children has gained increasing respect.”’ Three major factors led to a change of attitude towards child care and provided an impetus for the development of the Child Care Quality Assurance (CCQA) systems for Australian children’s services. • First, the general understanding of the significance of the early childhood period, with its full agenda of physical, intellectual, social and emotional development has greatly increased. It is now widely accepted that we learn more in the first five years of life than in any other five-year period. (c) bestchance Training 2009

6. Second, the number of Australian children being cared for outside their homes has increased damatically and continues to do so. This increase correlates to the growth in the number of families in which both parents are working or, in the case of sole parents, where the parent is working. • Third, the average amount of time an individual child spends in care has grown enormously. A child can spend up to 12,500 hours in child care before starting school: that’s only 500 hours less than the child will spend in lessons during the whole 13 years of schooling.” (c) bestchance Training 2009

7. “If quality is to be assured, a service providing care for children must have a strong system of regulation, accreditation and accountability” (Elliot, 2001). (c) bestchance Training 2009

8. Concept/ Purpose Seen as an opportunity to provide child care services, staff and families with standards against which quality could be measured. The accompanying rationale was that with increasing numbers of children spending large parts of their lives in child care, there ought to be some mechanism for quality assurance. The process of accreditation was designed to assist services to implement strategies to improve the quality of care they were providing for children. (c) bestchance Training 2009

9. Crawford Committee Established in June 1990 to research a range of possible accreditation option for Australia The committee recommended that the best model was to set up an independent national body, that represented all interested early childhood bodies. (c) bestchance Training 2009

10. Establishment of Accreditation System 1991 At first called the Interim National Accreditation Council (INAC) Dealt with Long Day Care Centres November recommendation that receipt of Child care Benefits be linked to accreditation to give the process validation ( only country in world to do so) (c) bestchance Training 2009

11. 1993 Both political parties make commitment to continue Accreditation…political agenda National Childcare Accreditation Council (NCAC) founded in March (c) bestchance Training 2009

12. 1996 The Liberal Government commits to accreditation of Family Day Care (FDCQA) (Implemented in 2001) 2003 includes Outside School Hours Care (OSHCQA) Accreditation now an integral part of Federal policy (c) bestchance Training 2009

13. the role of NCAC to: • set the standards for child care and the measurement of the standards • determine the Accreditation status of child care services • provide advice and reports to the Minister about the participation of child care services in the CCQA systems • maintain a formal register of child care services participating in the CCQA systems, and their Accreditation status • regularly review the operation of the CCQA systems (c) bestchance Training 2009

14. Defining Quality Care The CCQA systems are distinct from licensing regulations. to develop a standard of quality beyond the minimum requirements described by licensing regulations, which include staff qualifications, group size and child-staff ratios. Accreditation goes beyond these standards “to address the components that determine quality” (Mellor and Coombe, 1994). It shifts the focus from meeting minimum physical standards to striving towards the highest level of care. (c) bestchance Training 2009

15. The fundamental role of NCAC since its inception in 1993 has been to define the parameters by which the standards of quality care may be defined and applied to children’s services in Australia. The ultimate aim of the CCQA systems is to ensure that children in care have stimulating, positive experiences and interactions that nurture all aspects of their development. (c) bestchance Training 2009

16. A further benefit of the CCQA systems is that they encourage the accountability of services to parents looking at best practice care for their children (Tansey, 1997). (c) bestchance Training 2009

17. the three CCQA systems follows five steps to quality care: 1. Registration 2. Self-study and Continuing Improvement 3. Validation 4. Moderation 5. Accreditation Decision (c) bestchance Training 2009

18. CCQA encourages the collective participation of management, staff, families and children, working together to ensure positive outcomes for children. Through sharing information, consulting broadly and addressing the concerns of all involved, the CCQA systems engender a sense of ownership of and commitment to CCQA in child care (Stonehouse,1997). (c) bestchance Training 2009

19. 1993 trial system was introduced and 50 centres across Australia participated and gave feed back…64 principles This was later refined to 52 principles 1994- 4,200 child care centres were participating in QIAS (c) bestchance Training 2009

20. These we further reduced to 10 overarching Quality areas with 35 principles. 2005 further refinement was made and the overarching principles were reduced to 7 and standards for Good Quality were added, giving 3 levels of quality. (c) bestchance Training 2009

21. Standards of Quality Satisfactory Good High (c) bestchance Training 2009

22. Ongoing Refinement In May 2006 saw the introduction of changes to the QIAS system to ensure ongoing quality: - Unannounced Validation Visits (6 week time frame) - Unannounced spot checks commenced October 2006 - Non peer validators employees of NCAC - Integrated systems;- equity across long day care, family day care and Out of School care (c) bestchance Training 2009

23. Significant Changes to the Accreditation Process On 21 October 2009, at the National Childcare Accreditation Council (NCAC) Annual General Meeting, Board Chairperson June McLoughlin announced two significant changes to the Child Care Quality Assurance systems administered by NCAC. From 1 November 2009: •All Validations Visits will take place on a set date, scheduled in advance by NCAC, and •Validation Surveys for families will no longer be distributed as part of the Accreditation process. In making these changes, NCAC has considered feedback from the child care profession. Ms McLoughlin stated that “NCAC is delighted to implement changes that recognise the need for professional dialogue between services and Validators, as well as being able to remove a substantial administrative burden for services.” These changes are supported by the Government because they are in line with the reforms being developed as part of the new quality agenda. They are also recommended in the Productivity Commission’s Annual Review of Regulatory Burdens on Business released in September 2009. Change to Validation Visits Previously, Validation Visits were unannounced and services were advised of a six week timeframe but not the date(s) of the Validation Visit. Ms McLoughlin said, “By providing the Validation Visit date, services can ensure that the director or other key staff members are present to meet with the Validator.” (c) bestchance Training 2009

24. “Media Release - Significant Changes to the Accreditation Process Page 2 of 2 Families remain an important partner in the Child Care Quality Assurance systems and these changes will not restrict opportunities for families to provide feedback about the quality of care provided at their child care service. A new online poll has been placed on the NCAC website to gather feedback from families searching for child care. This will be expanded upon to solicit more feedback in the future. NCAC will be communicating these changes directly to all child care services. For more information visit www.ncac.gov.au. 21 October 2009 Background Information NCAC administers three Child Care Quality Assurance (CCQA) systems: ● Quality Improvement and Accreditation System for long day care centres ● Family Day Care Quality Assurance for family day care schemes ● Outside School Hours Care Quality Assurance for outside school hours care services NCAC Media contact: Elizabeth Robinson, 02 8260 1900 (c) bestchance Training 2009

25. Knowing the Validation Visit date will also help services when planning staff leave, professional development and other major events.” “Evidence from Spot Checks suggests that most services maintain the standard required for accreditation between Visits, indicating that there is no longer the need for two unannounced Visits to services” advised Ms McLoughlin. Unannounced Spot Checks will continue to play a vital role in Child Care Quality Assurance. Accredited child care services are randomly selected to undergo unannounced Spot Checks which could occur at any time. Removal of the Family Surveys “Services have been responsible for copying, distributing and collecting surveys to families as part of the accreditation process.” said Ms McLoughlin. “Removing this administrative process for services will save time and resources that can be better spent communicating with families, planning for children and providing quality child care.” (c) bestchance Training 2009

26. Removal of the Family Surveys “Services have been responsible for copying, distributing and collecting surveys to families as part of the accreditation process.” said Ms McLoughlin. “Removing this administrative process for services will save time and resources that can be better spent communicating with families, planning for children and providing quality child care.” Media Release - Significant Changes to the Accreditation Process Page 2 of 2 Families remain an important partner in the Child Care Quality Assurance systems and these changes will not restrict opportunities for families to provide feedback about the quality of care provided at their child care service. A new online poll has been placed on the NCAC website to gather feedback from families searching for child care. This will be expanded upon to solicit more feedback in the future. NCAC will be communicating these changes directly to all child care services. (c) bestchance Training 2009

27. Steps in the Child Care Quality Assurance Process participating in Child Care Quality Assurance (CCQA) are required to achieve and maintain the quality standards required for Accreditation as outlined in the Quality Practices Guide, and progress through the 5 step process. (c) bestchance Training 2009

28. The 5 Steps. 1. Registration 2. Self-study and Continuing Improvement 3. Validation 4. Moderation 5. Accreditation Decision (c) bestchance Training 2009

29. Registration A child care service must register with NCAC to participate and make satisfactory progress in Child Care Quality Assurance if it wants to receive Australian Child Care Benefit (CCB) payments on behalf of families. Registration and participation requirements are specified in the Child Care Benefit (Eligibility of Child Care Services for Approval and Continued Approval) Determination 2000 made under A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Administration Act 1999. (c) bestchance Training 2009

30. Registration Fees Initial or New Service Registration…$311.80 Annual Registration Fee… $172.40 Change of Registration… $140.90 Photocopy of Self-study Report ..$22.00 Photocopy of Validation Report … $20.00 Copies of certificates or decisions … $22.00 (c) bestchance Training 2009

31. Self Study and Continual Improvement Self-study is a process whereby the service’s child care and management practices are reflected on, evaluated, improved, maintained and monitored. This includes children’s experiences, interactions, record keeping, professional development, policies and procedures. During self-study, feedback about the service’s practices is gained from child care professionals, families, management, and where appropriate, children. self-study process? (c) bestchance Training 2009

32. Validation Surveys Families are encouraged to complete surveys and return to centre These are an important part of the accreditation process and it is expected that 5% of surveys are returned with self study report. (c) bestchance Training 2009

33. Validation This is when a Validator visits a service to observe practices, view documentation and ask questions to determine whether the information gathered during the Visit represents typical practice. The Validator documents this Visit in the Validation Report. During the Visit the Validator validates the typical practices in the serviceas occurring or not Occurring. (c) bestchance Training 2009

34. Moderation Moderation helps to ensure that all services participating in Child Care Quality Assurance are treated fairly and consistently. The process considers the service as a whole and identifies patterns of quality care. (c) bestchance Training 2009

35. Moderation Cont Moderators assess the quality of the service’s practice by analysing the information provided in the Self-study Report, Validation Report, Validation Surveys and, if submitted, Validation Evaluation Form. A Moderator will then: provides a rating of the service’s practices for each Principle develops a Continuing Improvement Guide which is written information to assist the service in planning for future improvements to its quality practices. (c) bestchance Training 2009

36. Accreditation Decision Accreditation Decision is the final step in the Child Care Quality Assurance process. The outcome of this step is the service’s Accreditation Decision, which is a statement regarding whether or not the service has met the required quality standards of care outlined in the Quality Practices Guide. (c) bestchance Training 2009

37. Accreditation decision… NCAC is responsible for the final Accreditation Decision for each service participating in Child Care Quality Assurance. The Accreditation Decision is not made by one person. It is determined directly from the service’s composite Quality Profile which is compiled by calculating the combined ratings from the service’s Self-study Report, Validation Surveys, Validation Report and Moderation Ratings. The Accreditation Decision will state that the service is either Accredited or Not Accredited. An Accredited service has achieved a rating of Satisfactory or higher in all of the Quality Areas of the specific Child Care Quality Assurance system. (c) bestchance Training 2009

38. What happens if centre isn’t accredited? The service has been rated Unsatisfactory on one or more of the Quality Areas in the Quality Practices Guide. This is illustrated in the service’s composite Quality Profile. NCAC uses the composite Quality Profile to determine the service’s Accreditation Decision. The profile reflects the Summary of Ratings from the service’s Self-study Report, Validation Surveys, Validation Report and the Moderator. (c) bestchance Training 2009

39. What can the service do if it does not agree with the Accreditation Decision? Apply to have the decision reviewed by the Accreditation Decision Review Committee. The Committee will refer to: the written information from a service outlining its evidence in support of a review all of the documentation used by NCAC to make the decision. (c) bestchance Training 2009

40. If appeal decision is upheld! Centre’s are given the opportunity to rectify any areas that they have not been accredited. Centre’s have 6 months to comply to standards and undertake the whole process again Centre’s are re accredited by another validator and are treated as if a normal validation If fail again centre’s cannot re appeal and cannot apply accreditation for 3 years Loose Child Care Rebate! (c) bestchance Training 2009

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